[Lingtyp] Fragment Answers to wh-questions

Johannes Hirvonen johannes.hirvonen at univie.ac.at
Mon Apr 8 12:00:19 UTC 2024


Dear colleagues,

I am curious if there is a language that prohibits the use of a single 
constituent or phrase in response to a wh-question instead of a full 
clause with a predicate, as in the scheme below:

Language XY:
(1) Who baked the cake? – *Alice. (OK: It was Alice. / Alice did it. / 
Alice baked. / Alice baked the cake.)

I would expect every language to have some form of ellipsis (e.g. in 
conjunctions), but do you happen to know of a language in which speakers 
reject or at least disprefer this type of fragment answer to a wh-question?

Thank you and best regards
Johannes Hirvonen



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